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Satellite town

A satellite town or satellite city is a concept in urban planning that refers essentially to smaller metropolitan areas that are located close to, but are mostly independent of larger metropolitan areas. The satellite city is too far from the urban core to be considered part of the metropolitan area.

In the United States, the easiest way to tell if a community is a satellite city or some other type of development (see below) is to refer to the List of United States urban areas, to see if it has its own independent urbanized area or is considered to be part of the urbanized area of its larger neighbor. This rule has exceptions, but should generally be followed.

Satellite cities differ from suburbs in that they have distinct employment bases, commutersheds, and cultural offerings from the central metropolis, as well as an independent municipal government. Satellite cities are not bedroom communities.

Satellite cities differ from edge cities, which are suburbs with large employment bases and cultural offerings, in that satellite cities must have a true historic downtown, a distinct independent municipal government, existed as a city prior to becoming interconnected with the larger metropolitan core, and are surrounded by both their own family of bedroom communitiesand a belt of rural land between themselves and the central city.[citation needed]

Conceptually, both satellite cities and some types of edge city could be (and once were) self-sufficient communities outside of their larger metropolitan areas, but have become interconnected due to the suburban expansion of the larger metropolis. However, while edge cities may have their own government and share many characteristics with satellite cities, they are much more physically integrated with the core city and would not exist in anything like their present form if not for the suburban expansion of their larger neighbor. Edge cities are activity nodes within a metro area, not miniature metro areas themselves.

Some satellite cities that are particularly close or well connected to their larger neighbors and/or have their own historic downtown may also qualify as the uptown variety of edge cities, but the terms are not synonymous.

In some cases large metropolitan areas have multiple centers of close to equal importance. These multi-polar cities are often referred to as twin cities. Multi-polar cities differ from satellite cities in such cases :

satellites are clearly much less important than the larger center around which they are located, while the various nodes of multi-polar cities are close to each other in importance

satellites are separated from the larger center by a substantial belt of rural territory, while twin cities may be fully integrated in physical form

For example, Fort Worth, Texas is a twin of Dallas, Texas because though Fort Worth is somewhat smaller, it is proportionally close enough and physically integrated enough with Dallas to be considered a twin rather than a satellite. Generally speaking, cities that are listed as being part of the same urbanized area should be considered twins, rather than one having a satellite relationship to the other.

Conceptually, satellite cities are miniature metro areas on the fringe of larger ones. Satellite cities are sometimes listed as part of the larger metro area, and sometimes listed as totally independent. In the United States, satellite cities are often (but not always) listed as independent Metropolitan Statistical Areas within a single Combined Statistical Area that is unified with the larger metropolis.

Statistics New Zealand defines a satellite urban community as one where 20 percent or more of the resident population’s work in a main urban area (30,000 or more). The following towns meet this criterion:[4]